The valley was silent.

Ivan didn't understand what they meant. Although Marvin had roughly told him what he found in the 7th tower, he had yet to understand the story of the Secret Garden.

But he hadn't been very interested in it either.

Marvin glared at the Mana Wraith like a judge before a convict.

In fact, back when they first met, Marvin had been very careful of the Mana Wraith's words.

When Marvin asked the Mana Wraith if the Magic Medicine King's illusions had reached the level of Hell Nightmares, the Mana Wraith clearly hesitated before giving out an ambiguous answer.

That answer gave a hint as to his identity.

Then, although Marvin didn't know who he was, he could guess that this guy wasn't the ghost of Wizard Apprentice Eric!

Hell Nightmares were very rare lifeforms. Even a Lord of the Nine Hells might not have met this sort of lifeform before.

They should be as rare as Fortune Fairies, Eternal Dragons, and other incredibly rare creatures. This was a lifeform that ordinary Wizards wouldn't know about!

Even in the Mikenshi school's knowledge system, it would be very hard to find anything about it.

Perhaps only a Wizard at the peak could know of the Hell Nightmare's existence.

But even though the Mana Wraith didn't give a clear answer, his expression and reaction suggested that he knew about the Hell Nightmares.

A mere Wizard Apprentice wouldn't know about them.

This made Marvin doubt the Mana Wraith. And later, when he found the diary in the 7th tower, he made a guess:

After that war, Eric wasn't the only one who survived.

That despicable Wizard longing for eternal life also survived.

But Marvin's information from the past didn't have anything about the Legend Wizard.

Marvin guessed that either his information was incomplete, or the Wizard hid too deeply.

Whatever the case, Marvin stopped fully depending on information from his previous life.

He needed to find more information.

And the Mana Wraith appearing at the entrance of the Garden of Eden answered a lot of questions.

It wasn't the ghost of Eric, but rather the doppelganger of Orica!

As for why he needed a doppelganger, the answer was very simple. Orica had probably fused his own soul with that Magic Medicine.

Or maybe he devoured the soul of the Magic Medicine King with some kind of soul transfer spell and then turned into it.

With Orica's knowledge of Magic Medicines and souls, there were various possibilities.

But what made Marvin doubtful was that even if he wanted immortality and wanted to make use of this Magic Medicine to achieve immortality, why would he attract an Astral Beast?

Could this have been an accident?

Was it the doing of the original Magic Medicine King?

Or was there still another hidden secret?

What about the real Wizard Apprentice Eric? Where did he go?

Marvin wasn't sure anymore.

...

The Mana Wraith looked loathfully at Marvin and said in a low tone, "You think you know the truth."

"You think you uncovered this space's secret… In fact, you are just a ridiculous kid."

"You can only become fertilizer for this garden."

"I originally planned to release you two. Now it seems that it won't be necessary. People who know my identity must die!"

His expression became sinister and he opened his mouth wide!

In an instant, his body fused with that entrance.

A powerful force pulled Ivan and Marvin in!

"You want to take a look at the Magic Medicine King's main body?"

"As you wish!"

"The [First Garden of Eden] hasn't had a guest for a very long time. Hahahahahaha!"

As Mana Wraith's crazy laugh echoed out, Marvin and Ivan were pulled to the Garden of Eden.

The two glanced at each other and Ivan nodded, grabbing Marvin's wrist.

Marvin instantly understood and didn't try to resist, allowing the Mana Wraith to pull them further.

The scenery before his eyes changed.

They were now in an area covered in dark clouds!

Marvin and Ivan were surprised!

This was the First Garden of Eden?

As a medicine garden, it should be sunny and smell like greenery, full of the aura of life.

But the space before them was actually lifeless, an accumulation of evil and filth!

This was a freaking Evil Spirit sub-plane!

The soil here was black and the flowers all around them were wilted. In the middle of the area, there was a plant with a monstrous shape!

Marvin and Ivan looked at this plant in distaste.

They didn't even know what kinds of words they'd use to describe this plant.

It appeared to be a vine-like plant, but it was growing tall like a tree.

Countless tendrils were spiraling on its body.

But the most frightening thing was that bloody faces emerged from the tendrils.

These were the souls of the people that had been swallowed by the Secret Garden!

They were howling in grief, shrieking while full of loathing and rancor!

The Mana Wraith appeared in the air and shattered, fusing with that plant.

The face of a kind old man appeared on the plant and greeted them with a gentle smile.

"Welcome to the First Garden of Eden."

...

Malicious coldness and the wailing of ghosts.

This was the First Garden of Eden? This was completely different from what Marvin had imagined!

All the Magic Medicines had been swallowed by Orica and his body had already become somewhat deformed. The Magic Medicines' properties were all vaguely reflected on his body.

"See these wailing ghosts? Don't you think they are pitiful?" asked the old man in a kind tone. "It doesn't matter though. Soon, you'll join them."

Ivan sneered, remaining silent.

Marvin shook his head. "I finally understand why the Magic Medicine King could break the arrays of the Mikenshi Wizards."

"The person breaking those arrays had been a Mikenshi Wizard. The Magic Medicine King might not have this ability, but the soul of a Legend Wizard could do this."

"Using this kind of method to achieve immortality... isn't this sad?"

Orica rebutted amiably, "No no no, you don't understand."

"Every life will eventually end, and no one can counter the effects of time."

"In my opinion, this shows a problem. If a life was born just to die, then there must be some kind of mistake."

"I only want to correct this mistake."

Ivan dismissed, "Shameless sophistry."

"You think you'll live forever?"

"Anyway, if it really was like this, why did you open the Secret Garden to attract people in?"

This time, the old man's expression changed. He roared menacingly, "Yeah, that's right!"

"It was that wretched Apprentice! The wretched Eric! He wrecked my plan and forced me to fuse with the Magic Medicine King!"

"This wasn't my original plan!"

Seeing Orica's crazy appearance, Marvin inwardly shook his head.

This guy had already gone insane.

He looked at him with pity. "If I'm not wrong… was your original plan to shift your own soul into that Astral Beast?"

The old man's expression was extremely fierce, as he roared, "Yes, that's right! You are very smart! Almost as smart as me!"

"I am the greatest genius of the Mikenshi school. How could I willingly fuse with a Magic Medicine?"

"I ought to have become a supreme existence scornfully looking down at this universe! Even Gods should have trembled when seeing my shadow!"

"But that kid, that shameless kid, he actually disregarded his own safety and destroyed my plans!"

"Wait till I completely fuse these chaotic souls! I'll definitely remove his soul and torment it in eternal fire!"

The old man kept shouting frantically and the whole place began to shake!

Marvin and Ivan glanced at each other and shook their heads.

The old man's roars cleared up what had been hidden in history. The events of those years had slowly resurfaced.

...

Eric was Orica's apprentice and managed to survive the war.

In fact, this was something Orica had deliberately arranged because he still needed a Wizard to assist him.

He wouldn't be able to keep controlling someone whose level was too high, so he chose Eric, who had recently become his apprentice.

The others all died under various schemes and plots.

His goal was to the get the remains of the Astral Beast.

This Astral Beast was originally near Feinan but had been slumbering. Orica found it while traveling across planes.

He didn't alarm the Astral Beast at that time. He was still young back then and had been a rather kindhearted Wizard.

But later on, as he grew older, many at his side began to die and he gained an abnormal thirst for immortality.

Incidentally, he obtained that particular Magic Medicine and personally planted it in the First Garden of Eden.

This Magic Medicine greatly enticed the Astral Beast.

A crazy plan formed in his mind.

At that time, his research in the soul domain should have been enough to let him seize the body of an Astral Beast.

The prerequisite was that the victim's soul must be nearly destroyed!

It had to be known that the soul was something immortal while flesh was weak.

Cloud Monks and Liches were immortal because their bodies were immortal, capable of hosting their souls forever.

The Astral Beasts were extremely long-lived, rumored to have a lifespan that lasted longer than the universe. If he could seize the body of an Astral Beast, it would be like living forever.

Thus, he began making his arrangements.

This was a plan that required patience and perfection.

From start to finish, there couldn't be any errors.

Following his plan, the aura of the Magic Medicine attracted the Astral Beast.

The flourishing Mikenshi school had a hard time.

Although they paid a huge price, they still managed to seal the Astral Beast.

This was within Orica's expectations. He wasn't impatient, because he still had enough time to finish his arrangements.

The Mikenshi school made many enemies.

And Orica was actually behind these enemies, vigorously supporting them.

In the end, the opportunity was about to arrive. He had roused them from within and both sides fought.

As he had expected, the Mikenshi school suffered a crushing defeat.

At his suggestion, they released the Astral Beast, intending to take the enemy down with them.

Everything was going as planned and the enemies died along with the Mikenshi school's Wizards. The Astral Beast was also at its last breath.

What remained at his side was an apprentice that followed all his orders and was often ridiculed for being a spineless coward.

But the intelligent and conceited Orica hadn't expected that it was this waste of an apprentice who would ruin his plan.